Question

What's better for my credit score: 80% utilization, or a $6k (cash out) auto loan at a similar rate?

I have a high amount of revolving debt from when I was jobless.

I've applied for a loan to take cash out of my car (not a dreaded title loan), but the best rate I could get was 17.99%. That's actually slightly better than the weighted average of the cards I have now.

My real question is this: the loan officer told me my rate was high primarily because of high revolving balances. If I open this installment loan, and pay all of my revolving debt, is it feasible that my scores would go up enough that my credit scores would increase as well? I could refinance the loan, start looking for cards with balances greater than $300, etc.

I have the discipline not to revolve debt if I were to do this, I'm just wondering if it'd be a good move or not. The credit simulator thinks it's a great move (and on another website, too).

I also have 2 student installment loans, average history of 5 years, about 7k revolving limits.

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